Personal Finance Challenge

The Personal Finance Challenge (PFC) is an Oregon competition and serves as the State qualifier for the nationwide competition, the National Personal Finance Challenge (NPFC).

The competition offers high school students the opportunity to build and demonstrate their knowledge in the concepts of good Personal Finance habits.

The first round is the local competition. Schools form student teams of 3 – 4 students to compete in a fun online 30-question challenge. There are two qualifying windows – teams may only compete in one of the qualifiers:

Fall Qualifier: January 2026

Spring Qualifier: March 2026

The four highest-scoring teams will be invited to the state finals in April.  The state finals are in person and use a College Bowl format (oral contest). Teams should only attend the State Finals round if they are able to represent Oregon in the National Finals the last weekend of May.  OCEE will sponsor travel for the First Place team to and from the National competition. (The Council on Economic Education sponsors all costs at the Finals competition).  At the National competition, teams use their knowledge to create a financial plan for a fictitious family scenario. The top 16 finishing teams in the National Finals will advance to compete for the national championship title in a Quiz Bowl.

Topics covered include; 

• Earning Income
  • How it’s generated and how factors such as taxes, interest rates, and inflation impact income.
• Spending
  • Buying goods and services by examining personal budgets, expenses, and income.
• Saving
  • Analyzing compound interest and financial institutions and services.
• Managing Credit
  • Credit reports, credit scores, and decision-making through consumer credit.
• Investing
  • Various investment instruments, including stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Students will also understand the concepts of risk and return and time horizon.
• Managing Risk
  • Different types of insurance and vigilance against common scams and identity theft.

• How to prepare for the PFC;
  • We strongly suggest going to this website; https://www.councilforeconed.org/programs/for-students/national-personal-finance-challenge/to prepare for the PFC.

• Registering for the PFC:
  • If you are interested in participating, registration opens January 1, 2026. Go to; https://www.councilforeconed.org/programs/for-students/national-personal-finance-challenge/to register (and scroll down).

For more information about Personal Finance Challenge contact OCEE at; contact@econoregon.org.